On my way driving home from doing one of my favorite things on this planet, teaching Portuguese to the most fabulous kids at the Hudson Portuguese Club in Hudson, I stopped at Starbucks to get my hot chocolate fix. Freezing cold nights feel much better with a sweet hot chocolate warming my hands and my taste buds! I stopped at the one in Marlborough. There is something very magical there. This time I came across a beautiful man named Elliott. I asked for my order, “Hot chocolate, no whip, no foam….extra side of LOVE.” I LOVE saying that because it WAKES people up. They almost always repeat what I said to see if it’s true, and then they TAKE A DEEP BREATH, SMILE and you can see them CONNECT to the present. I’ve been doing it for years. I LOVE doing that, IGNITING THEIR SOULS!

Warming My Hands and My Heart

Well, Elliott, a dashing “young” man in his seventies???, overheard and made a comment about how LOVELY that request was. I knew right then and there that he needed one of my great, big, bear hugs. I asked and of course with all that love flowing on that frigid cold night he was powerless to say “no”. 😉 We sat down and talked for a few precious moments. We were both fully present. He talked about his wife and how even after decades of marriage every day he felt like she was his Valentine. He said he knew it sounded corny but he felt it deep in his heart. If you looked into his eyes you knew it to be true. I shared my story about how Sophia led me to ButterflyMoms and invited him to come read it with the rest of us every Friday. I know he is not a Mom but it just felt right.

One of the most beautiful things about this is that my seven year old daughter Mialotta was with me and was a witness to this simple connection between two “strangers”. Why do I put STRANGERS in quotes? Well, all of us our connected by the same life force that helps spring *POP* out of winter every year, that whispers to a blade of grass to grow, grow, grow. There is no “to do” list to worry about or run ragged TRYING to keep up with, it just happens, naturally, effortlessly, always on its schedule. This intelligent life force, no matter WHAT you call it, exists. Each person on this planet is part of that. YOU are connected to EVERYONE! What Mialotta and I experienced with Elliott was magical because it felt like we were totally coming from that core connection, even as “strangers”. I felt as if I had known him forever………. 😉 So, Elliott, if you did decide to come to ButterflyMoms this week for a visit, I thoroughly enjoyed our meeting and hope that we share many more of them!

Look For YOUR Elliott this week...in whatever form he shows up!

So this week Beautiful ButterflyMoms, keep an eye out for YOUR Elliott this week. The ONLY way to see them is to BE IN THE PRESENT. LIVE (even if it’s just a few moments) IN YOUR PRESENT.

Great big honkin’ hugs to YOU!

Mariaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

🙂

ButterflyMoms founder…YAY!

ButterflyMoms Founder, Mariaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa 🙂

PS It has been two weeks since my dream got delivered to me, the book I helped write called “Entrepreneurial Moms Extraordinaire”!!! I sold ZERO books last week which was a little disheartening. If you have been meaning to buy yours please do! My goal is to sell at least 300 in 2011. The people who have read it love it. I sign every book and wrap it with lots of love! You never know what magic comes to you when you create magic for others! To order now go to http://bit.ly/gRxe4U

Here is where the books have gone to ButterflyMoms…

UNITED STATES

California

Sacramento 1

Massachusetts

Holliston 5

Hudson 4

Worcester 2

New York

Long Island 1

Rhode Island

Newport 1

AUSTRIA

Wien, Austria 2

ITALY

Rome, Italy 3

When you buy a book you represent your area. Let’s see where all the ButterflyMoms live!!! :)! This is FUN! http://bit.ly/gRxe4U

Happy Glorious Friday Morning! (ok, I can hear some of you already… MY, Maria you are certainly chipper this a.m.!! 😉 Although it is a currently popular in the American culture to BELIEVE we are not “morning people”, that we don’t really wake up until we get our “beloved” caffeine…MORNINGS ARE ACTUALLY SPECTACULAR times because your brain is still not fully in control of you! This is one place you can start digging for magic in your life. PLAY with EARLY MORNINGS! You heard me Sistah-Friend, PLAY WITH YOUR EARLY MORNINGS! Why? Well, BECAUSE IT IS SOOOOOOOOO FUN! Early mornings are the rare times when you have not slipped back into your HUMAN DOMESTICATION.

Happy Birthday Beautiful Corinne...Here is a photo of ButterflyMoms helping to support one another!

Early Morning From My New England Kitchen Window...

Notice WHAT SIMPLE things REALLY inspires you. Your INTUITION is strongest then because sleeping is like you have been MEDITATING all night so your brain is less likely to interfere. It is a fabulous time to write to see what (or who) comes out. Many times our true self comes out. The fact is that we sometimes pay others who have developed their intuitive/psychic skills but don’t take the time to nurture our own skills.

FROM LAST WEEK…CONNECTING THE THREADS

The assignment last week was to TRY THIS…For the next week either out loud or to yourself when you see someone instead of just saying “HEY” , “HI”, “HOW’S IT GOIN”, WHAT’S SHAKIN’ or HOW’S IT HANGIN’, how about you take a deep breath and say NAMASTE, even if it’s only in your mind. Think of it as a sweet, sweet alignment for your soul….it’s free and fun and is also a deep, magical gift to the others you come across in your day. 😉

How did it work for you? If you did not do it, no worries, take the guilt out of it. Look at it with childlike wonder and see where in your life you have simple, good things that will help activate the life you want. Do you not see these opportunities or just choose not to take them? Explore your unconscious habits. See what you can unlock and release today. Become lighter and happier. Like the song says, “I’m ALREADY THERE, take a look around.” Your happiness is already there you just have to notice and be open to it. :)!

Isabella enjoying her early morning in New England

HAPPY VD! 😉

It’s almost Valentine’s Day and that is the holiday of the heart, the fourth chakra. This chakra is the great connector of your lower self (the part that you don’t want people to see) and your higher self (the part you aspire to live in). The truth is that as the best-selling author Debbie Ford shares in her book Dark Side of the Light Chasers, we need both our dark and our light sides to be complete. The people who try to EXTRACT part of themselves end up doing more damage than not because when you cut off one part you cut off the other too because it’s all about balance. I personally like to know that I have a very healthy dark side that I don’t need to live in but if someone hurts my children or me I can access, fully, at my beckon call. I call it my MAMA BEAR mode. 😉 The KEY is not to LIVE THERE! That is when you are running your system into exhaustion because you are now accessing your fight or flight buttons and taxing the crap out of your organs, like your pancreas, adrenals, thyroid and yes, ladies, even your ovaries. These are all part of your endocrine system. It is part of the FIGHT or FLIGHT system that really was meant for us to access one every 2-3 years but in our society we access “several” times a day. It is one MAJOR way many of us are getting sick. If we were cars it’s like grinding your gears from over-use and not enough maintenance care. I do a fantastic healing for my clients to help them align themselves so it is possible to get out of this cycle. Notice when it happens to you and be gentle with yourself. It is all about noticing and letting go…and asking for help when you need it.

ButterflyMoms in Worcester (yes there are men ButterflyMoms too! 😉

FEED SOMEONE’s SOUL…AND YOUR OWN!

I see sooo many amazing people out there, especially MOMS who are following their passion. Unlike gigantor corporations who have a shitload of resources, loopholes and connections, most small businesses have very little. The one thing we do have is each other. I ask you this week to reach out to someone who inspires you, someone who feeds your soul. Support her business in some way, buy her product even if it’s a small thing, tell three friends about her and ask them to support her, write her a note saying she inspires you. Tap into your own INSPIRATION. In this planet of ours whatever we send our money and energy to we get more of. Many of us are conditioned to go to Target, for example, to buy gifts for people but what about the beautiful ButterflyMoms in town who own small gift stores…go their first. In Holliston there are six options I can think of where I can go right to the owner and tell them my budget and describe the reason for the gift and they oftentimes find me the most amazing items! When you support another’s HEART JOURNEY you automatically give fuel to your own. FEEL HOW GOOD IT FEELS to support someone’s dream! (DEEP BREATH REMINDER: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!)

The more you question your “SHOULDs” and you will EXPAND your JOY! It feels AMAZING, FAMILIAR, NURTURING, JOY-FULL, and even FUN! Thank you for your part in this wonderful formula we call ButterflyMoms! NAMASTE!

Great big honkin’ hugs to YOU!

Mariaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

🙂

ButterflyMoms founder…YAY!

PS It has been a little over a week since my dream got delivered to me, the book I helped write called “Entrepreneurial Moms Extraordinaire”!!! So far I have sold about a book a day. My goal is to sell at least 300 in 2011. The people who have read it love it. If you want to be a part of that love order one now. I sign every book and wrap it with lots of love! You never know what magic comes to you when you create magic for others! To order now go to http://bit.ly/gRxe4U

Here is where the books have gone to ButterflyMoms…

UNITED STATES

Massachusetts

Holliston 5

Hudson 4

Worcester 2

Rhode Island

Newport 1

California

Sacramento 1

AUSTRIA

Wien, Austria 2

ITALY

Rome, Italy 3

When you buy a book you represent your area. Let’s see where all the ButterflyMoms live!!! :)! This is FUN! http://bit.ly/gRxe4U

PPS A special THANK YOU TO the beautiful NANCY SENIOR of FRONT PORCH HEALING for her amazing LOVE and support! What a heart friend! You can check out her blog at http://frontporchhealing.com/

It feels soooooooo awesome to connect with you again today! When I sit down to write I literally do it as if we were sitting here together having an iced or hot tea (depending on your mood and location ;). It is another way I practice connecting to the universal energy that we all come from. It feels AMAZING, FAMILIAR, NURTURING, JOY-FULL, and even FUN! Thank you for your part in this wonderful formula we call ButterflyMoms!

A GROWING GREETING…

If you have ever tried yoga (and I highly, highly, highly suggest that you do!!!) many teachers begin and end their class with the word “NAMASTE”. It is a Sanskrit word used as a greeting, but one that calls your BEST and HIGHEST good, as well as the BEST and HIGHEST good of the other person! Each time you greet someone you are saying, the God/Goddess/Love energy in me sees the God/Goddess/Love energy in you! “NAMASTE” calls you each back to your core essence, back into your zone! Your zone is not my zone BUT when each of us is in alignment we have true peace. In this space there is only LOVE. TRUE LOVE, not those mushy Hollywood myths that people love to mirror. 😉

TRY THIS…

For the next week either out loud or to yourself when you see someone instead of just saying “HEY” , “HI”, “HOW’S IT GOIN”, WHAT’S SHAKIN’ or HOW’S IT HANGIN’, how about you take a deep breath and say NAMASTE, even if it’s only in your mind. Think of it as a sweet, sweet alignment for your soul….it’s free and fun and is also a deep, magical gift to the others you come across in your day. 😉

Tuesday was my husband Doug’s last chemotherapy appointment for this round. He has an ornery auto-immune disease called vasculitis that has been getting our attention for the last two years. So

Give Your Ickies to the Rocks

while the last round of snow storms hit we were at Mass General in Boston getting his infusion. At the very same time my books were finally delivered. It was 308 pounds of pure DREAM REALIZATION and its name is called Mom Entrepreneur Extraordinaire! WOW! WOW! WOW! Dream Realization Feels Good y’all!!!!! REAL GOOD!!! 😉 The book did not come in the way I thought it would but I was open to the way it did. The result is that this New Year I got a break from putting down “WRITE A BOOK” as my new year’s resolution!!! 😉 (only took 20 years!!! 😉

For over 20 years I have dreamt about these 308 pounds. Imagined in my mind what it would feel like to finally publish my first book. I pictured what it would be like to hold it, smell it, turn the pages and autograph them for people. In those 20 years I’ve also taken lots and lots of shit and ridicule from those who did not believe in my dream. You may find it surprising that most of those people were not my enemies but actually close family and friends. Many of them love/like me but I was messing with their comfort zone of what was APPROPRIATE DREAMING and what was not. In their minds they were doing for my own good….to keep me safe ;). GENTLE REMINDER TO BREATHE HERE, LOOSEN YOUR SHOULDERS and MOVE YOUR JAW AROUND….AHHHHHHHHH! (Remember from last week’s blog to give your “ickies” to the rocks so that you can clearly see the message for you without all the crap-ola!!!! 😉

(SIDENOTE: Notice that I wrote “taken lots and lots of shit and ridicule from”. What that means to me is that I actually did let it affect me. To say it did not and that I was fully focused is a lie. I let it do the opposite of NAMASTE. I let myself (many, many, many times) fall back into the “I’m not as good as ____________________” (fill in whomever fits), especially if my ______________ (boyfriend/girlfriend/mother/cousin/grandfather/sister/uncle/dad/brother/aunt/teacher-whoever it is for you) says so. One of my favorite Eleanor Roosevelt quotes is “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Well, I gave my consent because I did not know that I was enough. I grew up in a VERY Portuguese home/community where acceptance is paramount. I cannot tell you how many times I heard, “what are the neighbors going to think” At times I thought that I needed their approval in some way to feel whole, some days I still do, it’s a habit that is growing weaker ;).

Our Journey on Earth is about Learning How to FLY!!!!!!

Ahhhhhhh, my ButterflyMoms, we are our own prison guards!!! Really take this in. On “Amazing Home Makeover” (the show on ABC) there was a beautiful young man who was in college when his sister and mother died so instead of having his niece and nephews go into foster homes he quit school to take care of them. Even against huge odds he believes, “THE ONLY PERSON WHO CAN STOP YOU IS YOU!” Take it in, really take that in. What does this mean for you? I invite you to fire your guard or at the very least start giving him/her some well-deserved TIME OFF!!!) He/She has served his/her purpose and now they can also be set free! SET YOURSELF FREE!!!!!!

When you don’t have a lot of support, you have the opportunity to create your own support systems that work for you. That is what the ButterflyMoms community is to me. It is a wonderful support system for those who want to FLY!!!!!! Tap into this support and create other like systems throughout your life that allow your soul to grow and expand. It is fun to explore the possibilities. The more you question your “SHOULDs” the more you will EXPAND your JOY!

Great big honkin’ hugs to YOU!

Mariaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

🙂

ButterflyMoms founder…YAY!

PS In continuing to follow my soul’s dreams I ask for your help to get me to my goal of selling at least 300 copies of “Entrepreneurial Moms Extraordinaire” this year. So far I have only 11 orders…two from my mom ;)! If you feel inspired buy a book or two. I sign every book and wrap it with lots of love! You never know what magic comes to you when you create magic for others! To order now go to http://bit.ly/gRxe4U

It is sooooooooooo wonderful to wake up EVERY Friday morning way before even the sun gets up knowing that I’m going to CONNECT WITH YOU! It feels wonderful knowing I’m feeding so many souls by just being myself! And for you, beautiful ButterflyMoms, when you CONNECT in this manner there is less DEFENSE because you can read slowly or a part of it and then come back to it later. In other words, you can process it at any speed you wish. I like to think of it like a “pitching fork” that is used for aligning notes. When you come to ButterflyMoms and let the words “tune your life” you re-align to your true life’s purpose…and that is why we are all here, after all! It’s as simple and luscious as that! So here we go…

Winter in New England...from my deck.

The last few months have been ovary-busters! WHEW-EW CHILD! Some seriously crazy stuff has been unfolding. Many people did not find it comfortable for me to be in that ICKY PLACE but I did not want to leave it because I had not processed what I was going through. I have not fully left this uncomfortable place but I have found some incredible nuggets of information. The biggest one right now is that I do not have to own what I cannot control.

Sometimes as Moms we put ourselves in the position of God/Goddess/Allah/ Buddha. By this I mean we take on EVERYONE’s issues and make it our own. This is an impossible task that has killed the life force of many of our ancestors. Think about that harsh reality!

I was doing a meditation in my energy medicine school last weekend and I realized that I was guilty of wanting to fix everyone’s problems so that they could be safe….so that I could be safe. My fear of not being safe was so big that I oftentimes did not even check in with the person to see if they wanted my help or not. HELLOOOOO REALITY CHECK! This summer I had three very strong (energetically speaking) individuals do that to me and I can tell you that from the receiving side, it does NOT feel good at all when others try to SAVE YOU WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION!! ICKY!!!! YUCK!!!!

My girls :)!

My childhood did not exactly teach me about TRUST so now in adulthood I’m sticking in my pinky toe to see if the waters of trust feel right to me. I know there is a large “reward”, amazing treasures, if I can open up, really open up to the magnificence that is all around. Being closed cuts us off from sooooooooooo much cool “stuff”!!! …..and I’m talking about experiences, not things. SIDENOTE: Author Dan Buetner http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Buettner studies real sources of happiness. He quoted a study that the impact of new material things only lasts 9 months but experiences add value over time. 🙂 (and THAT is why ladies and gentlemen that I LOVE to travel!!!!) 😉

So back to this idea of trying to fix everything (hope I did not give you whiplash just now by moving back to the topic from which we digressed 😉 MOMMY MARTYRS DON’T HELP ANYONE! It is a not-so-great way to use your energy and then when you get depleted you get VERY cranky, moody or both and then, much like Godzilla, unleash your wrath unto the closest unsuspecting victims. You and I both now it can get very, very icky because the anger gets so big that you either attack someone else or turn it against yourself. For many of us we don’t know there is a third option, YES my fellow BUTTERFLYMOMS!!! YES, there is a THIRD OPTION and that is to give it away!

When you let go of what you cannot control all you have left is BEAUTY!

Now that I’ve totally confused you allow me to explain…Whenever we run across something that is too much to handle simply do the parts of it that you can, no matter how small or insignificant they feel, and then for the parts you cannot handle simply give them up to….here is where the fun begins. I did a mental exercise where I realized that I could give my ickies or the things that were too big for me to handle to rocks. Yes, you read it correctly, R-O-C-K-S, ROCKS!! In my exercise the rocks actually said “GIVE US YOUR PAIN. GIVE US YOUR HURT. WE LOVE EATING THAT STUFF.” Well, I did and know what? IT FELT AWWWWWWWESOME!!! Yes it did! I felt a huge weight being lifted. I found that it works MUCH better to stop acting like God and simply give it up to Spirit. Something happens where we think we need to do it all ourselves…(how’s that workin’ fer ya?)…..and that is simply not the case. THAT is why we feel so overwhelmed and why we keep trying to fill it with more STUFF!!! Do you see it? Take an aerial view of your life. Can you see where you have done this? Can you see where you do this? Here’s your chance to feed the rocks!!!

Welcome to Option #3! It's all around us!

Now my brain is scared that I just blogged that the rocks spoke to me but in this exercise they did so I’m going outside my comfort zone and letting you know too. Hope it helps some of you out there. I know it might seem silly but SILLY WORKED for me and it just may work for you, plus it’s 1. FREE 2. Does not hurt anyone and 3. No one knows that you are doing it….unless you put it on your own blog!!! 😉

I’m hearing little feet, gotta put on my “Mommy hat”.

Great big honkin’ hugs my lovelies,

Mariaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

🙂

ButterflyMoms founder…YAY!

Yes, and she only JUST turned 7!!! 😉

COOL EVENTS SECTION….

This week is the inauguration week for BFMs listing your events all over our planet. Send me your cool events that feed other ButterflyMoms’ Souls by Wed to have them included in Friday’s ButterflyMoms blog…

MASSACHUSETTS

– From one of OUR ButterflyMoms, Nancy Senior in Worcester, MA…This Saturday, January 29th and Sunday 30th all day, it’s the Three Rivers Building Community Retreat! Come experience many different treatments demos including Reiki, Healings, Massage, Yoga, Raw foods and more. Affordable and fun! For more info: www.threeriversbuilding.com . I’m going with my girls Sat morning! Come join us!

– From one of OUR ButterflyMoms, Betty Ripley, Holliston, MA…Sewing 101 Class. Come learn how to sew in a class environment that is supportive and fun. The way Betty knows how to teach a class it simply just another form of meditation. The four week class starts Monday, January 31, 7-9pm for $75. I’m taking the class too! For more details call Maria 617.877.3616. Betty is also teaching a quilting class and has kids’ classes.

– From one of OUR ButterflyMoms, Becky Geer-Linnell, Medway, MA…Kniting 101 & Beyond Class. Just like the sewing class this is an incredibly fun way to connect to yourself by doing something that human being have been doing for thousands of years.Come learn how to knit in a wonderful environment. The four week class starts Tuesday, January 31, 7-9pm for $75. For more details call me 617.877.3616.

ButterflyMoms ROCK! (get it?!) 😉

– From one of OUR ButterflyMoms, Maria Salomão-Schmidt, Holliston, MA AND ALL OVER THE WORLD!…Stitch n’ Bitch Get Together at Doug Sent Me Green Cleaners in the downtown of an idyllic New England town called Holliston, Massachusetts. It was sooooo incredibly cathartic. It was so wonderful that the people who came asked if we could do it again in two weeks instead of a month. If you don’t live close enough to Holliston to come Thursday, Feb 3 from 6-8pm then join your own group. Building community is another way we feed our soul and it’s FREE! For more info go to their official site…. http://stitchnbitch.org/

Buy the book to feed your entrepreneurial soul!

PS WONDERFUL NEWS!!! My first book “Entrepreneurial Moms Extraordinaire” was shipped on Monday!!! For ButterflyMoms who order it online it is discounted to $19.99 for ButterflyMoms (down from $25). Please order a copy and recommend to your online friends. Click here to buy, and post the link on your Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, …. http://bit.ly/gRxe4U. WHEW WHO!!!!!!!!

Thank you ButterflyMoms for your help especialy Helen for reaching out!

Beautiful ButterflyMoms,

First, I want to thank Helen Bannigan for her wonderful guest post yesterday. It is wonderful to have heart friends like her and those who reached out. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for lightening my burden and giving me a renewed sense of hope!

I find myself in a very precarious part of my life’s journey. For the most part, it does not feel very good to be where I am right now. If I take the fear and the judgment away I can say that I am definitely experiencing a lot of deep “shifts”. There is a river of rapid, unexpected CHANGE currently re-arranging my life… and that usually does not feel very good to us humans, especially when you seem to be following “the” rules, but not getting the promised results.

I’ve been in a phase where something “icky” happens and I dust myself off, put on a “stiff upper lip and conjure up all the self-help advice I’ve acquired over the years. Then another “Icky” thing happens, then another, then another, almost like “instead of it’s raining men, it’s raining icky.” It gets so bad that you start to think that the universe is pulling a cruel joke on you. It is seems like your whole life is deconstructing without your conscious consent. You think you are at that bottom and then you arrive at a new lower, bottom. Your life seems to be in free-fall mode. You feel scared, disconnected, and angry.

Life sometimes feel overwhelming!

As someone who has been to third world countries and seen how many/most of the people of our planet Earth live, there is a part of me, THE JUDGE, who rides me like a mule. “Look at you! You have running water, heat, a car that works, healthy children, a body that works, etc…SNAP OUT OF IT! “ And I did, I did “snap out of it again and again but there is a part of us that we bury when we simply “snap out of it” without acknowledging what is going on because it’s not convenient, or it makes others uncomfortable, or because it does not feel good, or_____________ (you fill in your own answer).

I get the sense that many feel this way but being raised the way we have been it is not “proper” for us to feel “icky” for very long or even simply be ANGRY. Well-wishers and loved ones also tell me to think about all that I have and to be thankful for that. It is true that I do have a lot to be thankful for but sometimes we feel what we feel and cutting off those feelings or sugar-coating what is going on in life, well quite honestly, sometimes life just SUCKS!

I remember back to a time when we had someone from Early Intervention coming to the house when we first had Sophia. Wise, white-haired Barbara was a wonderful soul who came to the house once a week to help us cope with Sophia having Downs and to make the most out of her life. She had a conversation with Doug once that helped snap everything into place. Barbara also had a special needs son who was now a man, she just blurted out one day, “Ya, it sucks.” Just saying those words released Doug in a very deep way. To be able to say that it sucks that you are in that situation without all the KUMBAHYAH fanfare feels REFRESHING! It is acknowledging your true feelings, not what you are supposed to feel.

What does it all mean when it's all falling apart.

It is only when we acknowledge that things do ROYALLY SUCK that we can begin to “move past the sucking”!!! Ignoring it just lets the SUCKINESS grow and fester. It may seem to go away but it only gets nastier and when it finally oozes back into your life you will wish you had addressed it MUCH sooner.

I spent my whole life creating a plan and working that plan of how to avoid pain and have the life I wanted. Over the last few years the universe has completely blown up that world. I AM RAW. Right now my life feels like it’s coming at me full speed. I feel like a rag doll getting thrown around. I don’t know where life is leading me but I will continue to be as authentic and present as I know how. Mark your calendars to come back every Friday for the unfolding journey. Feel free to share your comments below. This is how we can all learn and grow our ButterflyMoms souls.

Great big hugs,

Mariaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

🙂

PS My first book “Entrepreneurial Moms Extraordinaire” is scheduled to be shipped at the end of next week. For ButterflyMoms who order it online it is discounted to $19.99 for ButterflyMoms (down from $25). Please order a copy and recommend to your online friends. Click here to buy, and post the link on your Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, …. http://bit.ly/gRxe4U.

PPS Yesterday we had our first Stitch n’ Bitch at Doug Sent Me Green Cleaners in the downtown of an idyllic New England town called Holliston, Massachusetts. It was sooooo incredibly cathartic. It was so wonderful that the people who came asked if we could do it again in two weeks instead of a month. If you don’t live close enough to Holliston to come Thursday, Feb 3 from 6-8pm then join your own group. Building community is another way we feed our soul. For more information you can go to their official website…. http://stitchnbitch.org/

We all have goals that get SHATTERED at some point. It’s what you do with the pretty shiny pieces that either shuts down your life or gives it a wonderful new road to take. One of my goals has been to be ON the Oprah Show. I’ve had that dream for over 20 years. It comes more from my gutt than my head, if that makes sense to you. I have had a few cool near misses to connect with Oprah….Like back in the 1900’s 😉 I interviewed to host a show on her network OXYGEN and made it to runner-up. ARGHHHHHHH SOOO CLOSE!!!!! 😉 Most recently I applied to be a host of my own show on Oprah’s new network, OWN. I did not even make it to the top 40. Did I lose? Did I get the results I wanted? The ending I wanted SHIFTED into something else. What I learned from the experience was to:

1. Ask for what I want. I had to go WAY outside my comfort zone to ask people for help to create the video I needed some said “no” but some said “YES!” too!

2. Carve out time for the things that are important to me. Waiting to do these things until everything else is done is not a life anyone wants to live, the proof is all around you!

3. Be flexible in what comes at you. See things as useful feeback so that you can flow vs stand stiff. You gain more power that way as long as you know what your main goal/passion is. It just might look different that when you first saw it, simply adjust and move forward.

4. Put yourself out there. You’ll NEVER regret putting yourself out there but you will regret (and play over and over and over in your head) what would have been if you had taken that one chance.

5. Naysayers are just part of the journey. Don’t take them personally. Even when you find something you love, that fills you, you will run into people (or they will run into you! 😉 ) who want to kill your dream. They think they are being “helpful” but really they are just speaking to you out of fear – Fear that you will fail and get hurt. Fear that you will succeed and they will be stuck without their dream. Wish them well and send them on their way….without your energy! You need your energy to be present to all the wonderful things that are coming your way!

Larry Bird and Magic Johnson

I saw a special on ESPN about a month ago about Larry Bird vs Magic Johnson and how they fed off each other. They played a better game because they had someone with whom to bounce off their greatness! Oprah is like that for me, for many of us I suspect. She allows us to dream big, bigger, biggest. She is totally playing on planet Earth testing all sorts of limits to see what she can create with the time she has left. She is my LB/MJ!!!! Thinking of her gets me in MY ZONE, that of being the fire that ignites people’s souls. Because of her I am able to visit “being in my zone” more often. From that place we have built ButterflyMoms into one of THE most beloved blogs…..Here are the official stats of what you have helped to create…..

FROM THE OFFICIAL WORDPRESS FILES…..

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow!!!

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 11,000 times in 2010. That’s about 26 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 85 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 93 posts. There were 260 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 296mb. That’s about 5 pictures per week.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, butterflymoms.com, twitter.com, hollistonreporter.com, and linkedin.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for kelly davidson pappas, kids having fun at the zoo, nancy barton blog hopkinton, best wedding advice you ever received, and “lara fyfe”. ( I don’t get this part at all.)

I only started the blog in May, seven months ago, and look how far we have come! I hope you have LOVED coming here. Mark your calendar. I write EVERY Friday. CARVE out time to come here to partake in the sacred that will help you feed your soul. Doing it alone SUCKS! You already know that! It only drains you. Thanks for helping us ButterflyMoms to this wonderful level! Talk about win-win!!!! YAY! Your being here CREATES CONTAGIOUS MAGIC!!! There a many more of us out there who could use our help so instead of sending a card send them the opportunity for them to get into their zone. Share www.butterflymoms.com with them! (To share today’s blog with others: http://butterflymoms.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/the-gift-of-oprah-rejecting-me/)

BTW, here’s a little secret….(whispering) being on the Oprah Show is not dead yet!….I still talk to one of the producers every couple of weeks and you just never know!!! :)! (no longer whispering) KEEPIN’ HOPE ALIVE!!!

Great big hugs,
Mariaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

🙂

PS Big things are happening for 2011!!! YAY!!!!!!

My first book!!!!

My first book will be coming out at the end of January. It’s called Entrepreneurial Moms Extraordinaire. If you would like to pre-order a copy please let me know. They are normally $25 but I am including a special price for ButterflyMoms for $19.99. If you buy two I will also include the shipping! This is an extremely proud and happy event for me because I’ve been trying to do it for 20 years!!!

I opened my own healing practice called The Sophia Center on January 1. If you have something in your life that you need help shifting either body-wise or life-wise I am here to help you. For the month of January I will be reducing the rate of $80 for 50 minutes to only $60 for a 50 minute session. Buy a five-pack of sessions and get another $25 off (only $275). If interested please me an email to maria@butterflymoms.com so you can book an appointment and start the year off with someone who has your back!! It would be a total honor to work with you!

“Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.” –Thich Nhat Hanh

Dearest ButterflyMoms,

First one of my biggest loves in this lifetime…Today is my youngest’s birthday, Miss Isabella turns THREE today. Her spirit is such a fascinating mix of knowing and standing firm with what she wants WITH a deep sweetness/and connection to people. She is definitely an old soul and I’m soooooooo honored to be her Mama! “PARABENS BELLA-JELLA MEU AMOR!”

We have hit a “bump”. A “blog” is technically supposed to be about 400 words. It is SUCH a passion to write that I end up writing over 1,000. It also takes me about 8-9 hours to write. The feedback I get is that you put off reading it because it’s so long and you don’t want to miss reading all of it. I hear you and my intention is to make the ButterflyMoms blog “closer” to the 400 so that we can both have more bite-size pieces for our souls. All that other energy that is left over will then naturally flow where it needs to…I will announce “where” at the end of today’s blog…a little suspense keeps things “interesting”.

WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF?

As we all stand here on the “cliff” of 2010, many of us start to check in, sort of. Unfortunately checking in for a lot of us means a fruitless act of WISHFUL THINKING. We put our (disconnected from our soul) goals on paper and then are disappointed that we don’t get the house, lose the weight, get the money, or find the soul mate. How many years have you done this, been really hopeful about making a shift and then *BOOM*, it all falls apart!

THIS YEAR you have the choice of doing it differently. How? Simply add the equation of yor soul. Here are four things you can do to help make your life more satisfying, more you in 2011!

1. Schedule actual time (even if it’s only 15 minutes) to sit down every week and schedule three fun events that honor the kid in you. One is for you to do alone, another is for you to do with your friends/family and another for only your kids. This might sound like a big thing but one of the biggest complaints is that we don’t make enough time for the people we love. Be creative, ask for their input, even start traditions that will add more fun into your life. After about six weeks of doing this it will become a habit. It will take a lot of stress off your plate too because you have already have time set aside for meeting with the people you oftentimes feel guilty about not seeing. Guilt be gone!

2. Think of a place where you are really happy. Close your eyes and let yourself go there! Change your breathing. Allow your shoulders to drop. Feel your body and move around like a cat does when it is stretching. Breathe in. Breathe out. Picture it in your mind. Stay there for a while and really feel it. Breathe in. Breathe out. Know that whenever you get stressed out or need to escape you don’t need to eat, drink or even take drugs (even if they are over-the-counter), all you need is to take yourself back to your special place.

3. Isolation is the great dream killer. If you have a goal and you keep it to yourself there is almost a 99.999999123% chance that you will never birth that dream! Why? The ego will get a hold of it and kill it. The ego is afraid of “change”. When you to others, even strangers you will find that people have an incredible compassion for others. Even these strangers want you to succeed more than your ego does.

Feeling Safe

4. Every morning ask to see the world with new eyes. EVERY icky situation you have will completely shift if you simply see the world with a new perspective. You have the power. It’s there for you to activate ANY time you want, just bring your awareness to it.

Big things are happening for 2011!!! YAY!!!!!!

My first book will be coming out at the end of January. It’s called Entrepreneurial Moms Extraordinaire. If you would like to pre-order a copy please let me know. They are normally $25 but I am including a special price for ButterflyMoms for $19.99. If you buy two I will also include the shipping! This is an extremely proud and happy event for me because I’ve been trying to do it for 20 years!!!

I am also opening up my own healing practice called The Sophia Center starting January 1. If you have something in your life that you need help shifting either body-wise or life-wise I am here to help you. For the month of January I will be reducing the rate of $80 for 50 minutes to only $60 for a 50 minute session. Buy a five-pack of sessions and get another $25 off (only $275). If interested please me an email to maria@butterflymoms.com so you can book an appointment and start the year off with someone who has your back!! It would be a total honor to work with you!

What an honor it is to write to you on one of my favorite days of the year, December 24th! I like it even better than the 25th because there is sooooo much hope and anticipation, much like the climbing part of the roller coaster as you hit the top and even JUST start going over the other side. For most people, ESPECIALLY in America, December 24th is about gifts, gifts, gifts. Sure there is the food and getting together with family and all the traditions but the one thing it all hinges upon is the GIFTS!

Christmas for many of us is the time when the HOPE of creating the Christmas we never got crashes head on into the GUILT of not being there for our children as much as we’d like. The result is a BIG EMPTY feeling that many of us have tried to fill during the last few decades through more and bigger gifts. How’s that workin’ for ya? Hmmmmm?

...But the kids are having sooooo much fun!!!! NOT!

What is the truth? The TRUTH is that all kids want to be SEEN, HEARD and UNDERSTOOD(SHU). (funny that the acronym is SHU like when you are waiving off a cat or something, “Shu cat, shu 😉 SHU is essentially the meaning of LOVE to both kids, and adults if you took the time to really notice. Most of us were not SHU by our parents so we do this crazy SUPER-SIZING OUR LIVES to make up for our lack of FEELING whole. Meanwhile our minds are somewhere else. We ignore our kids. We don’t see them. We don’t really listen to them. We oftentimes don’t even SHU ourselves because we are focused on our TO DO LIST and BILLS and WORK and FAMILY STUFF. Our kids feel this to their core. The problem is that instead of thinking that, “Oh Mama is just “busy”, they form the INTERNALIZED CORE BELIEF “I’m not lovable!” and thus the EMPTY feelings get passed on, yet again, to the next generation.

Take that in for a moment…..(“Really, really.” Shrek quote) take a couple of deep breaths….How does that feel for you?….Keep taking some deep breaths and go there….Release what’s not working….Sometimes we hold “habit beliefs” that no longer serve us until we realize they are doing more harm than protecting us.

The Beauty of Waking up Early in New England!

I got up at 4:30am today to write with no alarm clock. I LOVE that time! Yesterday I broke my old habits of going to bed late so today I was able to give myself the luxury of having MY morning time to be with the planet and myself, knowing my children and husband are snug in the their beds. I LOVE that feeling! It costs absolutely nothing for me to bring this into my life, no money, no sacrifice, no ordering, no studying, no effort. All it takes is me:

Step one….Bringing awareness to it.

Step two….Changing my actions.

Step three…Feeling how very wonderful it feels to be in this moment! Ahhhhhhhhhh!

Arden and Tandei

When the change happens new things, that really fill our souls, enter. For the last year something has been knocking on my door but I was not ready to open it. I opened the door today and this is what I found….The work my beautiful friend Arden has been doing for 10 years!!!

Her life’s mission “snuck up” on her ten years ago when she was a grad student. What was only supposed to be a semester in Zimbabwe, turned into a year, which turned into forming a spectacular non-profit, that has survived ten years of unbelievable odds!

Coalition for Courage http://www.coalitionforcourage.org/contact.htm is a true grassroots organization located in Norton, Zimbabwe and run out of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts! (My neck of the woods!!) Arden works with orphans and vulnerable kids who are affected by and infected with HIV. This small organization is a ray of light in a very dark sky. The agency provides much needed support to some of the poorest children in one of the poorest countries in the world. Arden does the kind of work that every mother prays someone will do if her child is ever left alone in the world. Unfortunately in Africa, it is heart-breaking that many children are indeed completely alone because of the ravages of war disease and famine. I spent two hours this morning gloriously soaking up the newsletter and website, feeding my soul and connecting to the souls involved in this work. Two boys stood out.

Tendai before his mother died...what a cutie pie!!!

One is nine year old little boy, named Tendai, who Arden first met when he was in the first grade. She was friends with his mother. One day Tendai appears on her doorstep with ripped shorts, no shoes, emaciated, filthy shirt and sores all over his legs. He shares that his mother has died. Soon after he and his older brother were evicted from their home. His brother, not much older than Tendai tried desperately to get work JUST to buy food but could not. All beautifully recounted in Arden’s newsletter http://coalitionforcourage.org/hard_decisions.htm

The other boy who stands out is a 14 year old kid, Salvatore Sprofera from Medfield who found out about Arden’s heart organization, Coalition for Courage. Sal also discovered the kids and Zimbabwe and he shared a common passion, SOCCER (or “futebol” as most of the world calls it). He started collecting cans at his school and word spread. It took Sal a year and a half but he collected over 500 and over 40 jerseys, 80 pairs of socks, 50 pairs of cleats, and half a dozen soccer balls.This young teenager also got locals stores and organizations to donate uniforms, balls, shin guards and socks. Sal was fortunate enough to go to Zimbabwe with his mother this year to deliver the items. The children at Arden’s orphan care center were so excited that they even hoisted him up on their shoulders! Sal was written up in the following newspapers if you’d like to inspire your own kids that they CAN make a difference!…

I read about Tendai and Salvatore’s lives to my six year old Mialotta today who on January 3 will be the big 7!!!!!! Mia immediately suggested that her birthday party be the kick-off to helping Arden’s kids. Instead of presents they will bring donations and we will brainstorm later what else we can do to help.

I am honored to have around me, Salvatore, Tendai, Arden and Mialotta, beautiful souls I’ve encountered on my life’s journey who so elegantly remind me to, as Gandhi perfectly shared, “Be the change I want to see in the world.”

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Great big honkin’ hugs,
Mariaaaaaaaaaaa

🙂

PS In this season of giving sometimes the best gifts are those that don’t cost anything. Give someone the gift of ButterflyMoms but just sending them the link….www.butterflymoms.com and telling them to check out the blog section. Abundantly feed your friends’ and family’s hearts and souls for free! :)! Guilt-free giving with meaning! YAY!

PPS Coming at the end of January…..MY FIRST BOOK!!!!! Here’s the cover! WHEW WHO!!!!!

As we live our lives, we run into other souls with whom we feel such a strong connection that we befriend them. It’s pretty amazing that out of the billions and billions of other human beings on this planet we find that one specific person to whom we bond. Why THAT person? I am coming to the realization that friendship comes either to provide “solace-growth” or “aggressive-growth” (maybe even both at times). Allow me to explain…

Some of us have an astronomical amount of these friend connections, while others have only one. SIDENOTE: You would NEVER compare yourself to others if you remembered that whatever you have is what you need, for where you are, in your journey on this planet. There is no perfect general formula, only the PERFECT ONE FOR YOU. Sometimes we call a connection with another a “friendship” but it turns into something else…

In bringing awareness to the word “friendship”, I’m noticing two types of friendships. One we will call FULL FRIENDSHIPS (FFs), in which people give and receive in a mutually satisfactory “love” connection (“LOVE” meaning some true “admiration” and “like” for this other energy being.) These are the people who are not afraid to be honest with you, who believe in you, who have your back. FFs understand your faults and are willing to hear about theirs. If you have ever seen the movie BEACHES that is a great one to explain this type of friendship. Through thick and thin FFs are there. YAY, let’s hear it for FFs!!!!! When life gets especially tough they can provide the perfect shelter from your storm. For FFs to work fully, both you and she must be able to give AND receive because it shifts from one to the other from time to time.

The other type of friendship is one in which there is that initial connection or there seems to be a FF but then “something” SHIFTS. We call these POSER FRIENDSHIPS (PFs). This type of friendship emerges when one of the friends is either living most of her existence in fear mode or is just plain in her defense and trying to lull the other person into a certain position. A movie for this one might be SINGLE WHITE FEMALE 😉 (SIDENOTE: Sometimes I AMAZE myself at the wacky stuff my brain comes up with!!! Single White Female is the example? REALLY brain? Too funny!) This person typically is feeling unsafe and can only RECEIVE, but if you talk to them they will often say that it’s the other way around. 😉

So this week I had VERY INTENSE examples of both types. When I first started writing today’s blog only the PF example stood out, but as today unfolded, I realized that although this week’s PF incident had a VERY BIG impact on my life, the number and level of giving from my FFs hit levels of COMPLETE AWE….which brought me to a state of being incredibly GRATEFUL….which when I embraced what was happening, took me straight into a state of being HUMBLE. Being humble is one of the most magnificent frames of mind to be in because everything has a sense of worth and beauty that you miss when you are in other states of mind.

Here is a word of caution….Many of us grew up being trained to be “good girls”. Because of this widely accepted practice, when we are faced with conflict, our first impulse, might be to get all KUM-BAH-YAH, regardless of what we are FEELING. We grew up being told that is what we are SUPPOSED to do. But you know in your heart that NO GOOD CAN COME FROM IGNORING YOUR FEELINGS! Your POWER comes from your first three chakras, called the LOWER SELF. If you ignore those feelings you cut your power source AND trap energy. That energy will eventually get so concentrated that it will blow. We can all picture examples of what that looks like. No one wants that kind of life!

To break the cycle, simply ask, “What do I have to learn from this situation?” Create the boundaries you need to stay safe and practice letting go of ill will. To find out if you are dealing with a PF simply check in and see how you feel. Your feelings don’t lie. Sure not everyone is perfect but some people are just in that PF mentality and they will only shift when they want to. You can still call them your friend but really all they are, are energy “vampires” who waste their energy on non-nurturing thoughts and activities so they have to take energy from others in order to survive. Call your energy back, cut the cord, send them love and ask for your next adventure to arrive!

From the letters and emails I get from you, the wonderful ButterflyMoms, community I am in awe of the wonderful stories you share with me. I thank you for showing up in your own life. If you have been attracted to our wonderful ButterflyMoms blog the universe is sending you a message that your soul already knows. Create from it what you need to. About 1,000 readers come to ButterflyMoms every week to feed their souls! Thank you for being a part of this wonderful community! As we all continue to celebrate this magical holiday season I wish you much AWARENESS in your life so that your pure JOY can come streaming in!

“MERRY EVERYTHING!”

Great big honkin’ hugs,
Mariaaaaaaaaaaa

🙂

PS I ask you to support my dream, the one baby Sophia helped me push forward. After years of excuses, I am sooooooooo very thrilled that my dream of writing a book has finally come true! It’s been TWENTY YEARS in the making! Entrepreneurial Moms Extraordinaire is the amazing wisdom of 21 entrepreneurial moms who are passing on their knowledge to those who don’t have time for beating around the bush! We all need to make money NOW and live our lives well NOW. This book will definitely help in a very profound way! It’s coming out at the end of January. It will be $25 but if you pre-order it now you get it for only $19.99. Of course I will autograph it for you too! 🙂 Send me an email at maria@butterflymoms.com and I will send you the order form. YOU WILL LOVE IT!!!!

PPS In this season of giving sometimes the best gifts are those that don’t cost anything. Give someone the gift of ButterflyMoms but just sending them the link….www.butterflymoms.com and telling them to check out the blog section. Feed your friends’ and family’s souls for free! :)!

We have this wondeful Christmas tradition of walking to get our Chritsmas tree! Another wonderful gift from living in beautifuul Holliston!

Dearest ButterflyMoms,

Every Friday when I sit at my computer I am met with a flood of ideas and voices all crowding each other to be heard. My first reaction is to feel overwhelmed. What happens next is critical. I have one of two choices. One, I can “stand down”, which is a cool line I picked up from watching action movies, which means I can abandon my writing, OR, two, I can choose to surrender. What do I mean by surrendering? In surrendering I simply sit back, change my breath pattern (feels like taking a big sigh, sometimes even two or three…depends on the day), and asking, much like that 70’s gameshow, “Will the real ______ please stand up.” In this case I’m asking for help from the universe to guide me to write towards “my best and highest good”.

Once I make that request I’m given only the very first part of what to write about. I surrender again as I feel my mind creep in with “helpful” suggestions. There is a place for your mind but, in writing, I find that REALLY good writing happens only when your brain serves as background information help and not the main writer. The main writing, at least for me, comes from spirit. It’s so fun for me to write, because I never know how it’s going to turn out.

About two weeks before Sophia died. This was at her first birthday party which was an incredibly magical day!

The very first time I experienced this (that I am super conscious of) was the morning I awoke after my little girl Sophia’s sudden death. As I was sleeping I started getting a stream of words coming through. I tried to ignore it but I had a DEEP KNOWING that I would not remember it later and that it was important that it be shared. My mind was still semi-asleep as my soul guided my body downstairs to my desk and began to write as fast as I could to catch up to the words that were streaming in. Those were the words that I later read at her funeral and can be found here…. http://www.becauseofsophia.com/whoissophia.asp#Letter

The universe is always channeling energy through you. You have sooooo many resources around you that if you STOPPED to REALIZE it you would be amazed, delighted and humbled. Today, slow down, listen to your inner voice, use your breath. Do it consciously. For some because you don’t do this very often you might get the voice of fear/judgment. That is the ego! It is only happy when it is controlling you. It can only control you if you forget that your ego is NOT YOU! Remember in the Tom & Jerry or Bugs Bunny cartoons when you saw the devil and the angel on the character’s shoulder? The devil is the ego. It is only happy if you are not. Here’s where most people get lost in the mix, judging or punishing the ego only makes it stronger. The only way to get rid of it is to BRING GENTLE AWARENESS to it. Realize that it is not you but your fears. Realize that when the ego is on YOUR TRUE SELF cannot be. The TREASURE of who YOU really are is buried underneath that layer of icky. This is not “good” or “bad”, it is just the reason for why your life is the way it is. All you have to do is ACTIVATE CHOICE. Is this how I want to live my life? YES, stay the same. NO, then shift to breath and awareness of the present moment, like me and my writing, you will be given only the next step. Trust in that. Sit back, activate your breath and ACTIVATE YOUR NOW! The only power we have is in the present moment. This season of gift-giving give yourself the gift of ACTIVATING YOURS.

I thank you for showing up in your own life. If you have been attracted to our wonderful ButterflyMoms blog the universe is sending you a message that your soul already knows. Create from it what you need to. About 1,000 readers come to ButterflyMoms every week to feed their souls. Thank you for being a part of this wonderful community! As we all continue to celebrate this magical holiday season I wish you much AWARENESS in your life so that your pure JOY can come streaming in! MERRY EVERYTHING!

Great big hugs,
Mariaaaaaaaaaaa

🙂

PS In this season of giving sometimes the best gifts are those that don’t cost anything. Give someone the gift of ButterflyMoms but just sending them the link…. www.butterflymoms.com and telling them to check out the blog section. Feed your friends’ and family’s souls for free! :)!

PPS Please help me support my dream, the one Sophia helped me push forward. After so much struggling and excuses, I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooo thrilled that my dream of writing a book is finally come true!!! It’s been TWENTY YEARS in the making!!!! Entrepreneurial Moms Extraordinaire is the amazing wisdom of 21 entrepreneurial moms who are passing on their knowledge to those who don’t have time for beating around the bush! We all need to make money NOW and live our lives well NOW. This book will definitely help in a very profound way! It’s coming out at the end of January. It will be $25 but if you pre-order it now you get it for only $19.99. Of course I will autograph it for you too! J Send me an email at maria@butterflymoms.com and I will send you the order form. YOU WILL LOVE IT!!!!

Check Out... THE HAPPY ME RETREAT...

Join Transformational Life Coach, Maria Salomão-Schmidt for a unique 6 day/5 night retreat to Azores, Portugal, where you'll experience the culture, taste and feel of this absolutely stunning sub-tropical island. The Azores are a magical, volcanic land, full of natural, raw beauty, a temperate climate and endless amazing activities. Truly a paradise, and under 5 hours from Boston! There will also be plenty of time for respite and retreat amongst the beautiful fruity orchards of Quinta Minuvida, our home for the week. It's Time For Some Deep Happiness...